I own two laptops. One of them is a System76 Darter Pro which is the older of the two computers. It came with Pop!_OS preinstalled when I bought it over four years ago. I’ve experimented with Fedora, Ubuntu and Linux Mint on this computer, and I’ve settled on Linux Mint because its easy to use and its a great way to introduce new people to Linux. I have found Linux Mint to be the easiest way to transition folks who are former users of MacOS and Windows. There are three main reasons that I recommend Linux Mint.
First, the software is also open-source, meaning anyone can contribute to its development. This makes Linux Mint a very cost-effective and secure operating system. Second, it’s easy to use. The Cinnamon desktop is very similar to Windows and MacOS, so new folks will find it easy to get up and running. There are also a wide variety of tutorials and documentation online to help them learn more about Linux Mint. Third, the distribution is stable, reliable, and regularly updated. Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu and Debian and it’s been under continuous development since it was first released in 2006.
The Cinnamon desktop is very intuitive, and most folks who are at least a little computer savvy can easily find the software that they need to accomplish the tasks they want to. The power of Linux Mint is simple enough for a neophyte to use yet powerful enough to satisfy the needs of a power user. Linux Mint’s ‘Software Manager’ is easy to find in the ‘Main Menu’, and if you can’t find it there, you can begin typing ‘software…’ in the default search bar at the top of the menu. I have found that most of the software that I need to be productive is found in the default install, but other software can easily be added from the command line or the ‘Software Manager.’
Linux Mint supports ‘Flatpak’ out of the box which is another feature I have come to appreciate which is different from its upstream Ubuntu base. Linux Mint also comes with a ‘Backup Tool‘, which makes it easy to backup your important files to another disk. Linux Mint is powerful yet doesn’t burden your system even if you have a computer past its prime. Linux Mint is designed with privacy in mind, so it is not sending your information to a third party. Mint is easy to use yet powerful enough for developers.
I really like Linux Mint. Although people like to compare the interface to Windows and MacOS, I think it’s quite unique . I’ve never thought of it was a clone of either.
In Linux Mint, most of the OS related activity occurs along the bottom dock. There is no top menu bar. Which means that when an application is open full screen, the top menu options support the application, and the bottom dock supports the OS. I find this extremely efficient and clean.
It’s a thoughtful distribution that neither adds too much bloat, nor leaves me high and dry when I want to open a cd or dvd to play.